Pooled Savings Boost
Jamaican Businesses

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- When it comes to financial help for his West Indian grocery store, Andrew Morris is a step ahead of most small-scale entrepreneurs.

Instead of jumping through bureaucratic hoops for traditional lenders and then paying them interest, he taps into a homegrown cash-flow system to expand his inventory. The system is called "susu" or "partner," and it's an informal rotating-credit arrangement with...